


Beside The Still Waters

by Ardwynna



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Drama, Friendship, M/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 10:50:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7615114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ardwynna/pseuds/Ardwynna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud and Zack have each other and life is good. Not everyone is so lucky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beside The Still Waters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Up_sideand_down](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Up_sideand_down/gifts).



Shoving your trooper boyfriend into the ventilation ducts was something of a SOLDIER tradition. They were wide, convenient, and passed right by the bathroom in case the trooper boyfriend in question needed to take a leak. Zack waited until the coast was clear before tapping on the vent in the conference room. 

“Everything okay in there?”

“It’s cool, it’s cool, just move your butt,” Cloud said. “I need to swing this thing open.” Zack helped him work his way out, cram his helmet back on, and paid such attention to dusting off Cloud’s pants that Cloud had to make him quit. 

Zack wanted to lean in and steal a kiss but the helmet made that awkward. He settled for another pat on the bum. “Got a good look at him now, fanboy?”

“Quit it, Zack,” Cloud said, tapping one foot. “But yeah, it was a good view. Only….” He went still.

“Only what?” Zack prompted.

Cloud shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

-.-.-.-.-.-

Zack had a twin bed in the center of a bedroom that was big enough to handle more, and he and Cloud rocked together on it in the dark while neon-tinted rain poured down the window. Cloud threw his head back, throat flexing as he struggled for air against the feel of Zack’s teeth on his one bare shoulder. Tight arms wound around him, keeping him balanced when thighs and clawing toes failed.

The final cry was lost in thunder and they sat together, breath and sweat mingling, till Zack melted backwards onto the pillow and took Cloud down with him. They lay there in a pile, Cloud’s foot sliding off the side of the narrow mattress, occasional lightning limning their forms. 

When the thunder passed and the pouring of rain had dimmed to an occasional sharp pat on glass, Zack ruffled his boyfriend’s hair and whispered, “Are you asleep, Cloud?”

“Not yet.”

Zack ran a hand down Cloud’s back, not bare but clad in one of Zack’s own rarely-used button down shirts, open in the front so that skin met bare skin. “How come, babe, didn’t I rock you hard enough?”

Cloud snorted and settled himself down further on Zack’s chest. “I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

Cloud shrugged. “Just… stuff.” He turned his face into Zack’s skin, muffling his breathing and his voice. 

“Anything important?” Zack probed. “If it’s keeping you up at night…”

Cloud was still a while, then shook his head. “No, nothing important.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It was breakfast not the morning after, but the day after that, on a rare lazy Sunday, that Cloud brought up something that Zack had long forgotten.

“Does Sephiroth always look so sad?”

Zack glanced up from his hot chocolate. “What?”

Cloud stared down at his muffins and fruit, busying his hands rolling blueberries across his plate. “Does he? I mean, from the other day, when I was in the vent, he didn’t look happy. And I tried to remember all the pictures the company puts out. I don’t think he smiles.”

Zack set his cup down and stared in Cloud’s direction, though his eyes glazed over. “He does smile. Sometimes.” His eyebrows furrowed downwards. “He used to.”

“What’s it like?” Cloud asked. 

Zack spun half away in his little kitchen chair, drumming his fingers on the table, contemplating a phenomenon as understated as it was rare. “Small. Quiet. No teeth.” He breathed out and reached for his cup again. “He doesn’t smile much nowadays anyway.” He took a large sip.

“How come?” Cloud asked, actually bothering to eat his blueberries now that his fingertips were stained the color of Zack’s eyes.

Zack gulped his hot cocoa and frowned into the cup. “I don’t really know.” He scratched his head. “I guess I should know, don’t you think? Seeing as I work so much with him.”

“Yeah, seeing,” Cloud said, taking his own little sip of tea. He stayed lost in thought the rest of the morning.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Zack paid special attention to his Commanding Officer for a couple of weeks after that. The bare hint of a smile, the softening of the gaze and the straightening of the lips that passed for the expression on the world’s quiet idol, never showed. “It’s strange,” Zack said to Cloud as they shared a shower one night. “I could have sworn he used to smile more. Not a lot, but more. Now? Nothing.”

“So he never looks happy?” 

Zack shrugged and lathered Cloud’s hair. “Who knows? He’s not exactly an expressive guy.”

Cloud turned around and leaned back against Zack under the shower stream. “But he does look sad.”

Zack bent down over his lover, shielding Cloud’s face from the water with his own. It poured down around them all the same, a waterfall cascading out of Zack’s thick dark hair. “This is really bugging you, isn’t it?”

Cloud bounced up on his toes and gave Zack a quick peck of a kiss. “Doesn’t it bother you? Everybody should be happy.”

-.-.-.-.-.-

Zack figured it out the week after that and ran to the Army floor to drag Cloud out of the showers. “Hey, Strife,” someone hollered as Zack ran through the steam. “Your boyfriend’s here looking for a quickie.”

Cloud barely had time to grab his towel before Zack had wrangled him out of the line and into the lockers, past the snickers and the sneers and one insinuation about Cloud’s skill at handling weapons that Zack made a note to handle later. 

“I realized,” Zack said, glancing around for listening ears. In the regular Military Police section, there were none close enough to hear, and none enhanced enough to hear despite the distance. He backed Cloud up against the row of lockers and leaned in. It looked intimate, another shield. “I know why he’s sad.”

Cloud glanced up from pondering how much damage control this would take, only able to see Zack’s chin from so close up. “Later,” he said, shoving Zack away, all growly voice, hasty hands and warning, curious eyes. 

Zack slapped Cloud on the ass as he passed by so he could brush it off to his squadmates as SOLDIER libido, nothing more.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“He’s lonely,” Zack said later that night in the privacy of his own living room, with the TV volume turned up and all the doors and windows locked. “I figured it out when he started mentioning something about Genesis. And Angeal.” Zack’s voice hitched a little but he sipped his soda to cover it and pulled Cloud in close. “He smiled when he started, and then it kinda went away again, real quick.”

“Like he remembered,” Cloud said. “The good times that come with too much bad attached.” Zack did not say anything. Cloud sat curled up between his legs for a while, eyes on the gloom outside the window. Rhythmic flashes of pink lit the grey-green haze of Midgar. “You should ask him out.”

“What?”

“Ask him out. To hang. Get pizza or something,” Cloud said. “He works with you most now, right?”

“I guess,” Zack said. “But he’s not the kind of guy I could just ask to go get a brewski.” He set a cheek down in Cloud’s soft blond hair, savoring the scent of soap and skin. “I’m not even sure he drinks.”

“So find out,” Cloud said, rubbing his head back against Zack. 

“Cloud,” Zack wailed, slumping over, full weight resting against Cloud’s back. “How can I ask the Great Soldier Sephiroth to hang out? Me, a lowly peon. We have nothing in common.”

Cloud bore the weight, though his chest heaved for air against the unnatural pressure. “Make something in common, then. You have people around you. He needs some.”

“I guess.” Zack sighed. “This really means a lot to you, eh, fanboy?” He braced for an elbow in the ribs but it didn’t come. 

Cloud set a hand down on the couch beside Zack’s thigh and pushed his way free of the constricting circle. “I saw his face, Zack,” he said, turning to look Zack in the eye. “When your back was turned and you said you had a date and he thought nobody was looking, I saw his face.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“Aren’t you seeing someone?” Sephiroth asked.

Zack’s grin froze and he resisted the urge to scratch his head. “Um, yeah? What about it?”

“Is it not highly irregular,” Sephiroth paused, as if gathering thoughts, “to ask someone out if you already have someone? To go out with.”

“It’s not like that,” Zack said, not at all sure why that was the first thing out of his mouth. “It’s just a couple of beers, you know, like guys do after work.” The face Sephiroth made had Zack considering that no, maybe Sephiroth really didn’t know. “Unless you’d rather go get a burger or something,” Zack said. “Or go bowling, I don’t know. What do you usually do to wind down after work?”

“Wind down?” Sephiroth looked down. There was a stiffness to his features that Zack could notice now, with the close attention he had been paying to the man in weeks gone by, a line between the brows and a heaviness to the eyelids, as if he hadn’t slept enough, or felt a weight upon his face. Sephiroth’s lips turned down more often than Zack had ever seen them turn up, though both his smile and his frown were momentary glimmers. 

Sephiroth looked up, eyes clearing. “We used to-.” He stopped himself and turned away, head bending down again, with his face hidden behind his hair. “I use the VR room, on occasion.”

Zack felt the twisting pain in his chest. Of all the things he had hoped to share with Shinra’s hero, grief and loss had never been among them. Cloud was right. The man was sad. “How about it?” he said, words rising past a pain that was still too fresh for comfort. “A change of scene will do us both good. We could catch a movie even, if you’d like that.”

Sephiroth shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s appropriate.”

“Aw, come on,” Zack said. “Is it about my boyfriend again? He knows. It’s no big deal. Guys hang out after work all the time.” Sephiroth was silent. “If it makes you feel like less of a homewrecker,” Zack said, “I can bring my boyfriend along.”

Sephiroth turned his head, bangs swaying with the motion. He stared not at Zack but at a spot just above Zack’s shoulder, off a bit to the side. “I think that would be fine,” he said.

“Cool.” Zack tried to high-five the man but Sephiroth only frowned at Zack’s hand as if he didn’t know what it was doing up there. Zack took the hint and reined himself in. “How’s Saturday?”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“What?”

“Don’t get mad. It was your idea,” Zack said.

“For you to go hang with him,” Cloud said, shoving Zack off him. He felt around in the dark for his shorts and swung his feet over the side of the bed. “What the hell, Zack? What am I supposed to say to somebody like that?”

Zack sat back on his heels and watched his boyfriend, Cloud’s face lit in sharp pink-white flashing relief from the club sign outside. “I don’t know, what do you usually say to a guy when you go out for a beer or two?” Cloud gripped the edge of the bed and stared into the light. Zack exhaled and settled himself against the shaky headboard. “We’re in it now, Cloud.”

Cloud nodded. “Guess we’ll see it through.”

-.-.-.-.-.-

Zack picked a nice little joint, a bit dim, but not smoky. They got a booth and sat with a platter of celery sticks, chicken wings and silence. Sephiroth had his hair tied up so he could pull a hood over it, standard practice, he had said, when he was out on non-Soldier business. Which, by the way he was staring around, soaking in everything, wasn’t often.

“We’re out of ranch dressing,” Cloud said, and Zack motioned for a waitress, eager for something to do.

She was a chirpy one, with a tight shirt, big smile, bright voice and dead eyes. “Sure, I’ll go refill that for you, cutie,” she said. “Can I get you boys anything else?” She cast a glance over the small group and the dark eyes came to life beneath her glittery eyeliner. She blinked rapidly under the lights and clutched her notepad to her chest.

Zack froze in his seat. Beside him Cloud did the same. Sephiroth alone seemed oblivious. “Another melon soda, please.”

The waitress’s smile was real this time. “Sure, anything you like.” 

Zack let out a deep breath when she left. “You have fans, Sephiroth.”

Sephiroth blinked and picked up a celery stick, eating it with no dressing at all. “I know. There’s a fanclub.”

“Uh…” Zack and Cloud shared a glance. It was still a joke between them how they had actually known each other through the club mailing list long before they met in person, but it was a joke for another time.

“I think Zack meant the waitress,” Cloud said, filling in the gap while Zack floundered. 

“Patty?” Sephiroth asked. 

“You know her name?” Zack asked. “I thought you’d never been here.”

“She said it when she took our first order. And it’s on her name tag.” 

“You remembered?” Zack leaned back. 

“I never remember,” Cloud said. “It’s embarrassing.”

Sephiroth reached for more celery. “I was trained to remember names. The President used to take me to meet various business partners and dignitaries before I made First Class.”

“I can’t imagine that,” Cloud said. “I mean, I know there had to have been a before, but you’ve always just been Sephiroth, Soldier First Class.”

“It was a faster ascent than usual, I’ve come to realize,” Sephiroth said. 

“What I can’t imagine is how you’re eating that celery plain,” Zack said, making a face. “I mean, come on, no sauce even? Too much healthy food isn’t good for the soul.”

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. “What is good for the soul then?”

Zack pushed the plate closer to Sephiroth. “We can start with some good old-fashioned chicken wings.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“That was pretty good,” Cloud said, curling himself up against Zack’s side beneath the plain blue sheets.

Zack ran a hand down Cloud’s back and leaned in to breathe the scent of rain-damp hair. “Thanks for the performance review,” he said, then yelped when Cloud flicked him on the nipple. 

“Not the sex, I meant the night,” he said, patting Zack’s chest better. 

“It wasn’t so bad, was it? Once we got the extra cheesy sauce, and Sephiroth helped you cheat at pool.”

“You’re just mad we won the last of the hot sauce from you.”

“And it is an anger that will last to my dying day,” Zack declared. “But it was pretty good. I’ve never seen him try to unwind before.”

“And he didn’t look sad,” Cloud said, drawing patterns on Zack’s bare skin. 

“No, he didn’t.” They lay together, quiet and thoughtful, amid the city’s electric silence.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“Want to go hang out somewhere this Saturday?” Zack could feel the lack of nonchalance thick on his skin.

“I’m busy Saturday,” Sephiroth said. 

“Oh.”

“Friday is good.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Cloud picked a movie, the latest science fiction space flick. Zack had been on the verge of suggesting the remake of Loveless, seeing the way Sephiroth was staring at the movie poster, but the man turned away just as sharply and said he would go along with whatever the other two decided. He even bought the popcorn, jumbo sized, and drinks in the plastic ‘collectors’ cups. Zack tried to picture Sephiroth putting the tacky thing up next to his sword rack and shelves of medals.

They sat in the very back row for Sephiroth’s comfort, with Cloud between them, and enjoyed the movie well enough. When they came outside again, it was drizzling. Sephiroth put his hood up, his hands in his pockets and his eyes to the ground. He walked in silence while Cloud and Zack chattered above the background noise of a groaning city. They were halfway to the splitting point when Cloud realized Sephiroth was not speaking. 

“Did you enjoy the movie, Sir?” He looked up, heart pounding, willing the man to have not had a horrible time.

Sephiroth lifted his chin and looked straight ahead. “The science didn’t always make sense. But it was funny.”

Zack swallowed. “Did you… Would you rather have watched Loveless?” 

Sephiroth turned his face away. “No. Not… Not my kind of thing.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Zack said. “I saw you looking at the poster and stuff, but the new one looks a little… I dunno, smart for me?”

Sephiroth’s eyes fell to the pavement again, tracing a path from one ellipse of green-tinted light to the next. “I’ll see you on Monday,” he said, “maybe.”

“Maybe?” Zack said. 

“I have a mission tomorrow. A short one but things don’t always go as planned.” He turned to Cloud. “Thank you for the movie.”

“Thank you for the popcorn,” Cloud said. “And you get to pick the next thing.”

“The what?”

“The next thing,” Zack said, slipping an arm around Cloud’s shoulders. “That we go out and do. We picked the first two. When you get back, you pick the next one.”

Sephiroth blinked. “I see. I’ll give it some thought.”

They waved at him as he turned and went on his way, towards the golden lights of a building far nicer than Zack’s. Cloud linked his hand with Zack’s, weaving damp fingers together against the cold. They walked a while before the drizzle turned into a proper shower, icy cold with a suspicious hint of green to its grey. Zack pulled Cloud into the eave of a closed bakery, sheltering behind the sheet of rain pouring from a dark green awning. 

Cloud let himself be wrapped in warm arms and a boyfriend’s coat. He turned his face up for a kiss, shielded by falling water. He leaned back against Zack with a sigh. “I saw that look on his face again,” he said. 

“Yeah,” Zack said, thinking of Sephiroth, stock still among a crowd of excited moviegoers, staring at a poster. “I saw it too.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sephiroth did come back on Monday, with a requisition for new boots and two inches trimmed off his hair. He did not mention a time or a place and Zack didn’t push him. The week went by, then two. By the third Wednesday Zack was getting anxious.

Lazard sent him to clear out a Mandragora nest just outside Kalm, more as a prop for Sephiroth, who had been sent to make the company look good and caring. They spent the night at the local inn to maximize the photo ops. Sephiroth bore it with a blank face and his usual disinterested demeanor. 

“So,” Zack began, leaning back on his bed. “You picked a spot yet?”

Sephiroth visibly sighed but did not feign ignorance. “No. I’m not certain what would be enjoyable for you both.”

“Any old thing will do,” Zack said. “It’s not about the place or the thing, it’s the company. Unless…” Zack leaned forward, bracing on one knee. “Unless you decided hanging out isn’t your thing.”

“It’s not that. I- I enjoyed myself.” Sephiroth turned away, courting paparazzi by standing near the window. “I’ve never really been considered good company.”

Zack snorted. “A guy who can fit five chicken wings in his mouth at one time isn’t bad company.”

Sephiroth bowed his head. “There will not be a repeat performance, in case you were wondering.” Zack figured the sun was setting early because the reflection in the window looked a little pink. 

“Don’t sweat it, okay? We’ll be fine with whatever you pick.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“The aquarium?” It was almost a month after the movie and Sephiroth had finally made his choice.

“Yeah, who knew?” Zack said pulling on some jeans. “He said he goes there once in a while. Guess he really doesn’t get out much.”

Cloud ran a comb through his hair out of habit, because it never had much effect. “He can’t just be staying inside the Shinra Tower all the time.”

Zack took the comb and tried his best to do something productive with several scoops of hair gel. “I heard from Angeal.” He paused at the brief burst of grief that accompanied the name. “I heard they used to spend a lot of time in the SOLDIER VR room.”

Cloud understood.

-.-.-.-.-.-

They met Sephiroth at the entrance. The aquariums were large and at this time of night, empty. “There are lights,” Sephiroth said, leading the way. During the day the wide halls would be full of school children and their harangued teachers, with cheerful tour guides trying to teach them all something about the wonders to be found under the sea.

From the sunset hour the tunnels emptied and dimmed, almost cave-like in the dark, lit at intervals by the blue glow of light escaping water and glass. Zack and Cloud bent close, taking in spines and fins and sinuous swimmers. Sephiroth hovered just behind them, with the closest thing to a big smile either of them had ever seen on his face. 

“You like this stuff, eh, Seph?” Zack asked in front of the jellyfish tank. There was barely a curve to the man’s lips, not even an indent in his cheek, but his eyes glowed in a way Soldiers learned to recognize. 

“It’s peaceful,” Sephiroth said, and Zack had a name to put to the look on the man’s face. 

“It is,” Cloud said. The lights dimmed further, causing Zack to spin around. 

“It’s alright,” Sephiroth said. “They’re not closing, they’re just adjusting the lights to match natural daylight.”

“Well, that’s awfully nice,” Zack said and froze. The jellyfish were glowing. “Uh, are they supposed to do that?”

Sephiroth laughed, actually laughed, low and soft and brief. Cloud and Zack turned around to look at him. “Bioluminescence,” he said, gesturing around. All throughout the cave-like tunnels, hints of natural Lifestream green could be seen darting through the water. Lacy fronds of coral radiated a soft glow into the water, offering camouflage for the solitary fishes who did their hunting in the half-light. 

“Wow,” Zack said, and Cloud nodded beside him, reaching out to take his hand. 

Sephiroth’s eyes dropped to their linked hands and flickered back up to the waters flowing over their heads. “We should keep going,” he said. “There is plenty more to see.”

The pace was slow and leisured. Schools of tiny fish flashed around them in mating patterns too complex for human minds. A scintillating octopus escaped them in a cloud of black ink. Eels peered out of their rocky lairs at sea turtles claiming the high ledges for sleep. 

“Can we come here again?” Cloud asked. 

Sephiroth halted before the large central tank that rose at the heart of the building through all seven of its floors. He turned towards them, lips parted and brow furrowed. “You want to come back?” The deep blue of light shining through dark water outlined his form against the ocean’s captured glow. 

Cloud exhaled, taking in the height and breadth and sheer beauty of the moment. “Yeah,” he said. “I’d like that. This place is cool.”

Sephiroth blinked and looked down, letting blue-tinted hair fall over his face. “Not too many people think so.”

“Too many people are boring,” Zack said. “Does this place sell popcorn? It’s got great shows.”

Sephiroth smiled, an actual smile this time, lips curling, eyes closed. “The show’s not done yet.” He turned to the tank and looked up, waiting. 

Cloud and Zack flanked him, gripping the railing and staring into the light. Coral and fronds waved at them, beckoning, welcoming them into the depths. They stared and stared and did not say a word. Zack had a vague impression of the corridors and tunnels darkening further around them. The few voices and footsteps besides their own almost disappeared, leaving them in a reverent hush.

Out of the dark distance, a shape emerged in the water and closed in. It circled the perimeter high above them, fast and large, casting all three in shadow before disappearing again into the deeps. Zack was the first to break free of the water’s meditative hold. 

“Uh, Seph? What was that?”

“A Mideelian whale shark,” Sephiroth said. “I call her Madeleine.”

“You named her,” Zack said, still gripping the guard rail.

“She’s big,” Cloud whispered. 

“Very,” Sephiroth said, reaching across the gap to press his fingers against the glass. He turned around, eyes to the ground again. “Well, the aquarium will be closing soon.” 

“Time to go?” Zack asked, glancing back into the darkest part of the tank.

“Time to go.” Sephiroth led them through the darkened hallways back into the tainted drizzle and distant sirens of Midgar. They could have taken the train but they were all military. They had marched further for less. 

“So, you like sharks, Seph?” Zack asked.

“I like Madeleine.”

“She’s… impressive,” Zack allowed. 

“She’s endangered,” Sephiroth said, “and trapped, and alone, and not as scary as she seems.” Zack burned to ask more, but Cloud squeezed his fingers as a hint not to pry. Sephiroth had pulled his coat collar up and was doing his best to hide his face. Zack squeezed back and held his tongue. 

The season’s constant drizzle came to a temporary stop as they reached their usual parting of ways. Zack and Cloud kept going beside Sephiroth, making him stop and stare. “Don’t you two usually go that way?”

Cloud looked up at him. “We just thought we’d walk you home tonight.”

“If that’s okay with you,” Zack said. The lights of Sephiroth’s building were not far away. 

Sephiroth tilted his head and looked at them both. “I don’t mind. I just thought you two would… want time.”

“Time for what?” Zack asked. Cloud sighed. 

“Couple time, Zack,” he said. 

“Oh. OH.” Zack frowned. “Hey, Seph, we’re not just going to ditch you like that.”

“It’s not a problem,” Sephiroth murmured. “I know how couples are. I’m used to it.”

Zack and Cloud stared at the man. “What, getting ditched so other people could bone?” Zack finally put it together. “Aw, dammit, I knew Angeal and Genesis were a thing.” Cloud caught his eye and they shared a long gaze. Zack nodded and let Cloud’s fingers slip from his. 

Cloud stepped closer to his idol. “We didn’t ask you out to make you feel like a third wheel or anything.”

“Yeah,” Zack said, scratching his head. “We had fun. Tonight was… special. All three of us.”

Sephiroth raised his head but did not look directly at either of them. “It was.”

“So, we going back to the aquarium sometime?” Zack asked. “All three of us?”

Sephiroth smirked with tired, hurting eyes. “You make it sound like a date, Fair.” He turned to go.

“Hey, it could be,” Zack said. Sephiroth froze. “All three of us, I mean,” Zack said. He glanced at Cloud and found no objection.

Sephiroth turned to face them again, “Is- Is that done?”

“Yeah,” Zack said. “I mean, I’ve never done it before, but this is Midgar.” 

Sephiroth shook his head. “Now you’re being ridiculous.”

“Does it have to be, though?” Cloud asked, stepping closer. “We could… give it a try?”

Sephiroth did not move, stuck in the shaded spot between one streetlight and the next. His eyes went from one to the other, weighing and measuring, calculating risks and possibilities. Zack waited, nearly breathless. 

Cloud reached a hand out towards Sephiroth. “Only if you want to, Sir. We can try it out.”

Sephiroth looked down the street to the warm glow of the lobby lights of his upscale building. He turned his head up to the murky sky and the darkened, empty apartment he called his. He turned back towards the two young men standing in the street, waiting for a sign. 

He gestured to the building with a tilt of his head. “Would you like to come up for coffee?”


End file.
